The host of Good Morning Ghana, Randy Abbey, has expressed bewilderment over the government's classification of sanitary pads as luxurious items.

Despite pleas from Civil Society Organizations to remove the importation tax on sanitary products, in order to make them affordable for all women and girls, the government has not taken any action in this regard.

During the 2023 mid-year budget review statement delivered by the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, in parliament on Monday, July 31, 2023, Randy Abbey expressed disappointment that the government did not address this essential need for women and girls.

He questioned whether the government has overlooked the concept of period poverty and its significant impact on women and girls.

Despite the urgent calls for affordability and accessibility of sanitary products, the matter seems to have been overlooked in the budget review.

"Do you in classifying some particular items as luxury and slapping the luxury tax on them, add sanitary pads. I am sure there were women at the table ...you've not read about period poverty and its implications?," Randy Abbey asked government.

It would be recalled that the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, on June 23, 2023, expressed strong abhorrence at the imposition of taxes on sanitary pads in the country.

He described the passage of laws by parliament to impose the tax on sanitary pads as “unconscionable and a cardinal sin.”

Currently, Chapter 96 of the Harmonized System lists sanitary items, which are subject to a 32.5 percent tax on imported sanitary pads, which is made up of a 20 percent import fee and a 12.5 percent VAT.